History

A central scientific concept underpinning the Bioē project is the paradigm shift associated with the breakdown of the classical assumption of matter electroneutrality, as developed and demonstrated in the work of Fernando Galembeck*. Traditionally, matter has been treated as electrically neutral at macroscopic scales, with electric charges considered relevant only at atomic, molecular, or interface levels. This assumption has shaped much of classical chemistry, physics, and materials science.

However, Galembeck’s research has shown that electrical charge separation and accumulation can occur spontaneously and persistently in condensed matter, particularly at interfaces, surfaces, and heterogeneous systems, without the need for external electrical circuits. These findings demonstrated that materials and complex systems may sustain stable, measurable electrostatic fields and charge gradients, challenging the long-standing notion that electroneutrality necessarily dominates at observable scales.

This conceptual advance has profound implications for the Bioē project. Marine biofouling communities develop precisely at complex interfaces—between solid substrates, seawater, and living organisms—where biological activity, ionic transport, and material properties interact continuously. Within this framework, biofouling is no longer viewed as a passive accumulation of organisms, but as an active electrochemical system, capable of generating and maintaining electrical potential differences when coupled to conductive substrates.

By incorporating the concept that matter can exhibit persistent non-electroneutral states, the Bioē project explores the hypothesis that marine biofouling communities may act as distributed bioelectrochemical interfaces, converting biological and physicochemical processes into usable electrical energy. This approach represents a fundamental departure from conventional energy-harvesting strategies, which typically rely on discrete electrochemical cells or externally imposed gradients.

Thus, the breakdown of the electroneutrality paradigm is not merely a theoretical background, but a key intellectual foundation of the Bioē project. It enables the integration of materials science, marine biology, and bioelectrochemistry into a unified framework, opening new avenues for understanding energy flows in marine systems and for developing innovative, low-power technologies for maritime signaling and environmental monitoring.

*GALEMBECK, F.; SANTOS, LP; BURGO, TAL; GALEMBECK, A. The emerging chemistry of self-electrified water interfaces. Chemical Society Reviews 53 (5), 2578-2602.

The Obras Vivas initiative represents an important step in the scientific and applied trajectory that led to the Bioē project. Originally conceived as a community extension effort, Obras Vivas was developed in collaboration with traditional fishing communities to understand the specific challenges of biofouling on wooden boats and to explore practical, locally relevant solutions. Rather than approaching biofouling solely as an abstract technical issue, the project focused on real-world problems identified by fishermen, integrating local knowledge with basic observations of material–marine organism interactions on working vessels.

Through this engagement, the team collected qualitative and preliminary quantitative observations of how different boat surfaces and traditional maintenance practices influenced the settlement and accumulation of marine organisms. These early findings suggested that factors such as material type, surface condition, and exposure patterns could affect colonization dynamics, revealing meaningful differences in the way fouling communities form on wooden hulls. While Obras Vivas was not designed as a formal research project, the insights it generated highlighted significant gaps in mechanistic understanding and the potential for scientific inquiry and innovation.

By combining applied community engagement with foundational observations, Obras Vivas provided valuable direction for subsequent research planning. The experience underscored the importance of moving beyond observational patterns toward controlled experiments and detailed analyses, particularly where material properties and biological responses intersect. These lessons now inform the Bioē project’s structured research approach, which builds on real-world context to address fundamental questions about biofouling selectivity, material interactions, and bioelectrochemical potential generation in marine environments.

The awards received at FEBRACE 2025 played a decisive and highly motivating role in the structuring and consolidation of the Bioē project. The recognition obtained through student-led prototypes and applied research initiatives provided clear evidence of the scientific relevance, technological feasibility, and societal impact of the ideas that now converge in this proposal.

In particular, the awards highlighted the potential of integrating marine biological systems, conductive materials, and autonomous electronic platforms to address real-world challenges related to maritime safety and environmental monitoring. The positive evaluation by external experts and national institutions reinforced the maturity of the underlying concepts and encouraged the research team to advance from exploratory and educational prototypes toward a fully integrated scientific project, grounded in rigorous experimentation and long-term objectives.

The feedback and visibility associated with these awards were instrumental in motivating the team to deepen its interdisciplinary collaboration, refine the scientific hypotheses, and structure the Bioē project within a robust research framework aligned with the goals of PROASA. In this sense, the FEBRACE awards acted not only as recognition of past achievements, but also as a catalyst for the development of the present proposal.